Improvement in repeating fire-arms



2 Sheets--Sheet1 LEONA R D.

Revolvers.

Patented May 6, 1856..

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2 Sheets--Sh,eet 2 G. LEO NA R D. I

Revolvers.

Patented'May 6,1856.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE LEONARD, OF SHREWS-BURY, MASSAGHUSE'ITS.

IMPROVEMENT IN RE PEATING FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part'ot Letters Patent No. 14,820, dated May 6,1856.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE LEONARD, of Shrewsbury, inthe county ofWorcester and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have iii'vented new anduseful Improvements in Fire-Arms; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full and exactdescription.

Figure 1 is a side view of a fire-arm containing said improvements. Fig.2 is a top View of the same. Fig. 3 is a central vertical andlongitudinal section of it. Fig. 4 is a side view of it with the sideplate and stock detached andthe chamber turned down from the breech in aposition for capping the cones for cleanin g, &c. Fig. 5 is a back viewof the chamber. Fig. 6 is a front view of the barrels. Fig. 7 is a sideview of the revolving hammer. Fig. 8

- is a cross-section of the chamber. It is pierced turned down from thebreech, as seenin Fig;

4, for the purpose of capping the cones for cleaning, 850. The back ofthe upper part of the chamber A, Fig. 3, has a locking-recess, 0,adapted to receive a catch, P, on the front end of a lever, 16, turningon a fulcrum, R, lying within a recess, 0, in the breech, and having athumb-piece, t h, on the back end. The thumbpiece t 71. rests .upon andis kept up by the upper leaf of a V-spring, 8, whose lower leaf, a,

has a stud, d, extending downward through a corresponding aperture inthe breech and entering and bearing on the bottom of some one grooves ofr. cylindrical shaft of a revolvmmer. undle, G liig. 3, is firmly andunalterabl y sci ed into i center or axis of the chamber at M. It passesthrough a cylindrical bore or passa e, H, in the center of the piece I,composing the barrels K K K K K, Fig.6, the number of which is equal tothat of the bores in the chambers. The back of the spindle G, Fig. 3,projecting from the chamber has a screw, M, a continuation of that at M,and is adapted to a corresponding nut, N, in the back part of the boreH. A portion of the front of the bore H is made somewhat larger than theback'part of it. It is of the same size as the head of the screw L,which is screwed into the front end of the spindle. It has a shoulder, sh s h, at the back part, so that when the barrels are unscrewed at M andN from the chamber they can be slid back on the spindle G until the headof the screw L, which projects on all sides over the spindle, touchesthe should er s h s h and no farther. In loading, unscrew the barrels atM and N, draw'thein forward on the spindle G until the head of. thescrew L strikes the shoulder s h s h, grasp the barrels in the lefthand, hold them vertically, and with the right hand turn each bore ofthe chamber severallyintoaconveuient position and load it, screw downthe barrels so that each one may exactly range with its appropriateborein the chamber, press thcthumbpiece t h of thelever l e so as toraise the catch P from the recess 0, turn down the chamber, as in Fig.4, cap the cones, and then return the chamber to its first position. Thefire-arm is now loaded.

The central screw, by which the barrels and chamber are attached anddisconnected for loading, I admit has been'employed for many years. I donot say I was not the original inventor; but I regard it by itself as oflittle value. When the fire-arm is wholly separated into two parts theliability of dropping one while loading, especially when in a hurry oron horseback, is so'great as to preclude the general use of anyexpedient for such separation but the combination of the central screwwith a spindle having a projecting head, formed in this case by the headof the screw L, this head sliding in a bore of its own size, but largerthan that for the spindle, with ashoulder to strike the projection ofthe head and hinder the barrels from being entirely detached, I regardof great importance, withoutwhich this fire-arm would be comparativelyvalueless.

The hammer '1, Figs. 3 and 7, consists ot'a straightcylindrical shaft, 8h a, playing through two apertures in the breech c and f, Figs. 3 and 4,and which has a transverse groove, '5, around it near the back part toreceive the 'mainspring U, Figs. 3 and 4, and allow it to work a beak,b-c, Figs. 3 and 7, which by the I do not consider new.

. blenumber of e-quidistantlon'gitudinal grooves, yy 9, Fig. 7, are sunkin the surfaceof the shaft.

These are crossed in the proper places at a. suitable acute angle byanequal number of equidistant oblique grooves, h h h. The bottom of thefront part of the straight grooves is sunk deeper into the shaftthan thebottom of the corresponding part ofthe ebliquegroovos, and

the'bottom of the back part of the oblique gFooves is sunk deeper intothe shaftthan the bottom of the corresponding part ofthe straightgrooves. The direct and rotary'motion's of the hammer are actuated asfollows: When the fire-arm is in its usual position, Fig. 3, the studdis pressed by the spring a'to the .bottom of the back partof an obliquegroove. In cocking, thehammer is drawn back and the studd, followingtheoblique groove, partially rotates the hammer until the studreaches thestraightgroove, to the bottom of which it is instantly driven by thespring 8. In discharging, the hammer is driven'forward and the stud d,following the straight groove keeps the beak of the hammer in the properposition, until just before it strikes the cap the stud reaches the nextoblique groove, into which'it is instantly driven by-the springs, and soon.

The preceding method of.eflecting the (iirect and rotary motions of ashaft or hammer I r I used {a similar method, as well as some others,many years ago to produce the same motions in long run-- ner d'rillsworked by doublei'ron brakes. The

device was not then new to me. Thebreech of a chambered fire-armmanufactured at Windsor, Vermon t, about twenty years ago, wasretracted, rotated, and guided in itsforward motion by this identicalexpedient. It is now in ex istence, and was made in a large armory, so

that all the circumstances attending its construction are well known.The samefcontrivance has been used for some years in somesewing-machines, the models of which, I presume, are at Washington.-Neither do I assert any invention or originality inmy use of 'severalconcentric barrels in firearms. Though their long-continued use isnudoubted,-it may.

be well to admit that I have reason to-believe they were manufactured inthis town fifty years ago. They were made by Edwin Wesson, then of thistown, more than twenty years ago, and

by Ethan Allen, now of the flrmof Allen & Thurber, of Worcester, morethan fifteen years ago; but I do regard themachine or fire-arm made by acombination of a hmumerconstrucb. ed and operated as before stated, withseveral v concentric barrels, as quite new and original with me. Such ahammer without a series of concentricbarrels could never bemade into amachine or fire-arm like the one in question,

or with similar properties or advantages.

sear-from. the mainspring. springhas driven forward the hammer the Themaiuspring U, Figs. 3and 4, is bifurcated at the top, as seen in itsfront view at k, Fig. 9, and is hooked. into the groove 1' of thehammer. The trigger V, Figs.'3 and 4, is carried by and turns up'ou thepin it in the cocking-lever- X, which cocking-lever turns on the pivotO. I In the operation ofcockin g, the cock-1 ing-lever carries back'thetrigger by means of thepin n, and forces a notch, M), Fig. 3,"near itsback part, on its under side, against themaiu- I spring, which iscarried back until the catch W of the sear a 0, Figs. 3 and 4, drops andcatches -it at k ",--Fig; 9, and holds it firmly in 'a cooking position.The-sear previous to catching the mainspring enters-a .slot inv thecenter of the back part of the trigger, as seen in a top View of thetrigger, Fig. 10. The catch W of the sear s 0, Figs. 3 and 4, is keptdown by the operation of the sear-springm, which presses against itbelow the pivot 12 i. The scar has a thumb-piece, Z, projecting throughthe back part of the breeck; If said thumb-piecebe pressed against bythe thumb and the cookinglever be gradually eased down by the finger,the-firearm can-be uncooked without discharging it.

The fire-arm is discharged bydrawing the trigger, which raisesthe'bottom of the slot b, Fig. 10, in its back end against the front endof the scar, and disengages the catch of the After the maintrig'ger andcocking-lever are carried forward by the trigger-sprin g 1?, Figs. 3-and4, which presses against the back part 'of the trigger.

From the preceding it appears that the firearmcanlnot be uncooked bydrawing the trigger and easin'g down the cocking-lever. .The triggercontributes to the operation of uncookin g only so far as it has some ofthe properties of a cocking-lever, as it has when cooking and uncockingin the notch n o and in its connec- -tion with the cocking-lever by thepin it. On

the combination of a cocking-lever and trigger with properties similarto those just stated I have now a patent. A sear with qualities like theone in question may not be new, but a combination of this sear with acocking-lever and trigger havingthe properties as stated I regard asanew and original invention and indispensable to the -eflicicncy of thisfire-arm. With out the sear the cocking-lever must be held' back by onefinger while the trigger'is drawn- 7 by another.

This was thexconstruction used by 'me in a large lot of pistols.exterior'thumb-piece, Z,Fig's.3 and-4, the the arm cannot be uncookedwithout discharge; andif the trigger had the usual properties, and onlythe usual properties, hich it has in amusket, rifle, or pistol, nosuchsear with an exterior thumb-piece would be required to uncock thefirearm.

1. I do not claim the invention of a central screw by which severalconcentric barrels may be attached to and disconnected from a chamherwith a proper number of bores; but I claim Without the the invention, infire-arms, of an'expedient for connecting several concentric barrels toa chamber having an equal number of bores, and for partially butnotwholly disconnectin g the same for the purpose of loading, cleaning,&c., consistin g of a combination of acentral screw with a spindlehaving a projecting head, and a bore of two difierent diameters in thecenter of the concentric barrels, the front part of the bore beinglarger than the back part and of the di-' ameter of the projecting head,and the back barrels, nor of several concentric barrels having anythingspecial or peculiar in their construction; but I claim the invention, infirearms, of a combination of several concentric barrels with a.revolving hammer fortheir successivediseharge,thereciproeatingandrevolving motions of which hammer are governed and guided by straightand oblique grooves sunk in its surface, each kind of groove to be equal.in number to the barrels, the whole to be constructed substantially asherein described, but independent of any accidental properties.

3. 1 do not claim the invention, in fire-arms, of a sear havingathumb-piece or arm projecting beyond the breech or stock, so that thefire-arm may be uncocked by pressing on said thumb-piece orarm andeasing down the hammer; but Iclaim the-invention, in fire-arms, of acombination of a cockin g-lever,trigger,and sear with a-thumb-piece, thecombiuationto have such characteristics that the fire-arm can beuncocked without discharge only by pressing said thumb-piece and easingdown said cocking-lever, the whole to be constructed substantially asherein described, but independent of any accidental properties.

In testimony whereof I, the said GEORGE LEONARD, hereto subscribe myname, in the presence of the witnesses whose names are written below, onthis 1st day of February, A.

GEORGE LEONARD. In presence of-- Jon 0. STONE, MARY A. TYLER.

